Shusse Yakushi 出世薬師 for a good career The letters of this huge stone memorial were carved according to the writings of 伝教大師最澄聖人 Dengyo Daishi, the founder of the Tendai sect. On the ground is a memorial with sand from all the Yakushi temples of the Henro pilgrimage to 88 temples in Shikoku. There are also stones from the 中国天台山 Chinese Tendai Temple and from インドの仏跡 Buddha relics of India.

This temple has been founded by Gyoki Bosatsu in 706. In 829 the honorable priest Koojoo 別当大師光定 Betto Daishi Kojo (779 - 858) of 伊予の国風早 Kazahaya made it to a temple of the Tendai sect, with a tradition of 1300 years burning the light of the Buddhist Law.

The temple is about 5 km away from 堀江町 Horie villlage. The villagers call this temple. おおぐりのおやくしさん Ooguri no O-Yakushi San.

Once upon a time in a village of the 医座山(白山) "White Mountain" there was 一位木(あららぎ) a sacred Araragi tree. The tree was so huge it made a large shadow on the nearby fields and the farmers asked Gyoki for help. So he felled the tree. To appease the spirit of the tree he then carved seven statues of Yakushi Nyorai and placed them in seven temples, which he founded in Iyo. 伊予七薬師霊場 The Seven Yakushi Temples of Iyo. 医座寺 Iza-Ji / 十輪寺 Jurin-Ji / 03 蓮華寺 Renge-Ji / 安養寺 Anyo-Ji / 05 正観寺 Shokan-Ji / 08 雲門寺 Unmon-Ji / 西光寺 Saiko-Ji 安養寺 is now known as 石手寺 Ishite-Ji. The 12 Yakushi Temples of Iyo were later added as a pilgrimage.

On the 17th day of the 6th lunar month in 743, the bright light of Yakushi was seen over the mountain. Since Gyoki was there on his pilgrimage, he founded the temple The present main hall has been re-constructed in 1674.

- Chant of the temple 信あれば病はなおる蓮華寺 るりのくすりを 与えまします

松山新四国88霊場、四国88霊場番外 extra Fudasho on the Shikoku Pilgrimage to 88 Holy Sites in Matsuyama

This yokan has green tea flavor and its elegant sweetness. Usuzumi yokan was named after the Usuzumi cherry blossoms at Saiho-ji Temple in Matsuyama. The white beans in the jelly colored like a dark green leaf reminds you of the petals of the cherry blossom. This yokan is said to have originated in 1874 and has been awarded many prizes and is one of the famous confections in the nation. - source : city.matsuyama.ehime.jp -

The temple was founded by Gyoki Bosatsu about 1200 years ago. It was located differently, but Lord 河野通廣 Kono Michihiro (? - 1263) had it rebuilt in its present location. Now people have a festival on the 17th of July. Onoyama is also spelled 長尾山. It is related to 住吉神 Sumiyoshi no Kami.

It is related to Ono no Komachi and thus a temple where people come to pray for health and beauty.

Ono no Komachi took a retreat for 100 days of prayer here, on request of the Sumiyoshi Deiry, to cure an illness.

春雨の降ると見えしか霽にけり その箕笠をそこに脱置く

It seemed that rain was falling, but the weather returned to fair, and the kasa was put aside

岡薬師瑠璃光如来 Oka Yakushi Ruriko Nyorai The Yakushi Hall of this temple is at the top of 星岡山 Mount Hoshioka san. 奥之院薬師堂は星岡山の山頂

During the Sengoku period of the warring states, Hoshioka was a region of constant fighting. The Yakushi Hall 薬師堂 of the temple is on these grounds, it was built in 1073. This Yakushi helps to cure warts and other skin troubles and since olden times pilgrims came here from Okayama, Hiroshima and other parts of Japan.

09 玉松山金蓮寺 Konren-Ji 松前町西古泉65 Masaki Cho, Nishikoizumi, Iyo-Gun, Ehime A temple of the Shingon sect. The old name of the temple was Shoojinji 性尋（しょうじん）寺 Shojin-Ji It has been found in the Heian period around 808 by the 河野氏 Kano clan.

Later in the Kamakura period, a priest named 明海上人 Myokai Shonin layed a new foundation. It also relates to 義農作兵衛 Gino Sakubei (around 1732) and a great famine at that time.

ryuutoo Yakushi 龍灯薬師 Yakushi of the Dragon Lantern

Once upon a time the fishermen of Masaki went out to the sea for fishing, when the weather suddenly turned bad. They tried to get back to land as fast as they could, but the strong wind and currents drifted the boat further out to sea. The fishermen rowed the boat with all their might, but eventually lost all their strength and just sang the Amida prayer: 「南無阿弥陀仏。南無阿弥陀仏。」 Namu Amida Butsu, Namu Amida Butsu.

Suddenly they saw a light on the horizon, and then one more, and one more. They rowed the boat toward that light in hope for help. The three lights kept flickering as if they wanted to encourage the fishermen to do their best. This light came, in fact, from a pine tree in the compound of the temple.

ryuutoo no matsu 龍灯のマツ the Dragon Lamp Pine

The fishermen rowed faster and faster to reach this light and finally came to the beach. "Thanks to the Buddha from temple Konren-Ji. Let us give thanks and pray!" The fishermen stood in front of the pine and looked up to see the light again, but now all was dark.

"This must have been a dragon dancing and thus bringing light to the sea of Masaki!"

Eventually years later in a storm this pine tree broke down, but before it died, the fishermen took a branch and planted it anew. And to their surprize the new tree had three main stems. Thus they understood that this pine tree was the dancing dragon. The tree we can see now is a much later generation.

A phenomenon at the Ariakekai sea in Kagoshima, Kyushu, in the evening hours. It is also seen in other parts of Japan as a light that the Dragon God sends out to honor the deities of Shinto and Buddhism in Japan.

In the very South of Matsuyama is a region called 今出(いまず) Imazu. At its entrance is a magnificent gate, almost like the entrance to a Dragon Palace. the Mitsujoomon 密乗門 Mitsujo-Mon Gate.

In the temple compound is also a hall for 弁天堂 Benten, where businessmen come to pray.

At the Yakushi Do 薬師堂 Yakushi Hall the villagers from Habu come to pray for good fortune, a good harvest and protection from illness. In former times there were three large pine trees in the compuond. People picked up the pine cones, burned them to put the smoke and smell on their bodies and prayed. The ashes of the pine cones were said to heal warts. In front of the main hall is a statue of ichigan Fudo 一眼不動尊 "Fudo with one eye" who also grants just one wish (ichigan 一願) of the worshippers. (With two eyes, Fudo sees very clearly all the bad points of a human, with one eye he sees only half and can thus extend his benevolence and mercy to more people.) There are other temples with such a Fudo statue in Japan. . Ichigan Fudo 一願不動 One Wish Fudo .

shuin 朱印 stamp of the temple

密乗の門太白花仰き入る

村上霽月 Murakami Seigetsu (1869 - 1946) His grave is at the temple Choraku-Ji.

- quote - A placebo ( Latin placēbō, "I shall please" from placeō, "I please") is a simulated or otherwise medically ineffectual treatment for a disease or other medical condition intended to deceive the recipient. Sometimes patients given a placebo treatment will have a perceived or actual improvement in a medical condition, a phenomenon commonly called the placebo effect or placebo response. The placebo effect consists of several different effects woven together, and the methods of placebo administration may be as important as the administration itself. ..... The placebo effect points to the importance of perception and the brain's role in physical health. Placebos can produce some objective physiological changes, such as changes in heart rate, blood pressure, and chemical activity in the brain, in cases involving pain, depression, anxiety, fatigue, and some symptoms of Parkinson's. In other cases, like asthma, the effect is purely subjective, when the patient reports improvement despite no objective change in the underlying condition.- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

..... a more simple way of healing (possibly with a stronger placebo effect). The healer would write the character の over the affected body part, chant some incantation and that was it. As an aside, even now mothers use the spell for all kinds of painitai no itai no tonde ike (tondeke) 痛いの痛いのとんでいけ pain, pain go away

The Cult of the Healing Buddha in East Asia Donghwasa Temple, South Korea, May 29–30, 2013.

The cult of the Healing Buddha (Skt. Bhaiṣajyaguru, Ch. Yaoshi, K. Yaksa, J. Yakushi) constituted one of the major cults in East Asia. And yet, with the exception of Raoul Birnbaum's seminal work (The Healing Buddha, first published in 1979), it has been until now largely neglected in Western scholarship. The present conference is intended as a first step toward redressing this neglect. The functional relation between Bhaiṣajyaguru and healing opens up a large area of research on the relationships between Buddhism, medicine, and healing cults. ..... More specifically, the extent to which Bhaiṣajyaguru's cult contributed to promoting Buddhist priests as healers remains unexplored territory.- snip - The esoteric Bhaiṣajyaguru as a cosmic deity, at the center of the spatio-temporal framework formed by the bodhisattvas Suryaprabha and Candraprabha and the twelve spirit-commanders (who are linked to the twelve zodiacal signs). In his capacity as an astral deity, Bhaiṣajyaguru is also associated with the cult of the seven Bhaiṣajyaguru and the pairing of this septet with the seven stars of Ursa Major (i.e., the Big, or Northern, Dipper). In Japan, for example, this cult provided a bridge between esoteric Buddhism and the so-called Way of Yin and Yang (Onmyōdō).- snip - in Japan the pestilence god Gozu Tennō 牛頭天王 is often considered a manifestation of Bhaiṣajyaguru. - source : blogs.cuit.columbia.edu/c-bear -

The two attendants of Yakushi are Nikkō on the left and Gakkō on the right. If you think of Yakushi as a doctor of a hospital, Nikko is the nurse for the day shift and Gakko has the night shift. So you are in good hands for 24 hours.

The statues date back to the Heian period and are made in the style of Joochoo 定朝様 Jocho. They are made from hinoki 檜 Japanese cypress. Even after 900 years there are rays of golden color coming from the face, neck and breast.

- quoteHorai-ji located in Horai-cho, Aichi Prefecture. The temple was built in 703 by the hermit Rishu 利修仙人. It is sacred to Yakushi-Nyorai and is venerated as a place for curing diseases by many powerful men including Takeda Shingen, a daimyo of the 16th century, and Tokugawa Ieyasu, ruler of Japan early in the 17th century.
The influence of the temple has declined since the mid-19th century, however, when the samurai rule of Japan came to an end, with the result that only the sanctuary, Nio-mon ("Deva King Gate"), bell tower, Okuno-in (inner shrine), Ko-do (small hall), and two small annexes remain today. The approach to the temple features 1,452 stone steps lined with gigantic cedar trees. The remains of the buildings and other structures here remind visitors of the prosperity of bygone days.- source : jnto.go.jp/eng

The road leading to the temple off the Tokaido was called 鳳来寺道 Horaiji-Do.

It also holds a copy of the Genji Monogatari
鳳来寺本源氏物語（ほうらいじほんげんじものがたり）源氏物語五十四巻

- quote - Mount Horaiji
Mt. Horaiji is introduced in the guide book called "130 mountains in Aichi Prefecture". Mt. Horaiji is a low mountain and the highest peak is 684.2 meters above sea level in Shinshiro City. There are Horaiji temple main hall, Toshogu shrine, Deep Horaiji temple and so on in the mountain.

The whole mountain is country designation, natural beauty spot natural monument and can expect Gulf of Mikawa across Tosan river plains in the southernmost tip of Mount Horaiji old volcanic group distributed over depths Mikawa. Aged cedars grow thick, and both sides can hear voice of the Buddha, Buddhist dharma and bonze from the beginning of May when they climb stone stairway from Omotesando.

Mount Horaiji Nijo-jo Castle (Ieyasu) lines up to 35 degrees N (mother of Ieyasu) Mt. Chiba Suzaki Shrine (Yoritomo Minamoto), Kuno Toshogu (Ieyasu), Sunpu-jo Castle (Ieyasu), Akiha Shrine, Otori next temple (mother of Ieyasu), Okazaki castle (Ieyasu Tokugawa), Kariya castle, Ogawa castle. Edo-jo Castle, Mount Fuji, Mount Horaiji, Yoshinoyama, Mt. Koya-san is arranged in a straight line, too.
This line and three intersections with medial line are Mount Horaiji.
Otori next temple was founded for 703 years by rishu senjin and used three fearful gods at will. Neck of three ogres was confined in basement of the main hall of a Buddhist temple as guardian deity in quiet simplicity with hermit. Yoritomo Minamoto revived temple (Ishibutsu written, "it is with ogre bone" seemed to be discovered by all letters in 1974.), and, as temple which parents of Ieyasu conceived and prayed for, it was left building Toshogu by Sandai family to inherit the shogunate light.
There is Yuya Onsen in horai kyobanshikikawa (river where we seemed to spread gold-leaf folding screen all over) and is said to be hot water of healing. - source : aichi-kanko.jp -